Kentucky's Calipari, players help storm victims

Kentucky's Calipari, players help storm victims

NEW YORK (AP) Kentucky basketball coach John Calipari is bringing a lot more than the third-ranked Wildcats and their impressive freshman class to the New York area.

The man who led the Wildcats to the national championship last season and his four heralded rookies will play Maryland on Friday night in the first college doubleheader played in the new Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

Before the game, Calipari will present a check for almost $1 million to help in relief efforts for those affected by Superstorm Sandy. The money was raised in two telethons involving the Wildcats, who answered phones and took pledges to help people in the New York-New Jersey area.

Calipari said he has stayed in touch with friends from the area since the storm hit and the money raised will be used to help people affected the most by its damaging impact.

In 2010, Calipari used telethons to raise more than$1 million for the victims of the earthquake in Haiti.

``My job is to care about my kids and their job is to care about each other,'' Calipari said Thursday. ``I want them to wake up every day and say `What am I going to do today to help somebody else?' We have all been blessed and we should take advantage of that. Fate intervenes and when it does, if you are in a position to have an impact on others, step up and do it.''

Calipari said it helps that he has 400,000 ``very close friends'' on Facebook.

The Redskins are having three visitors today in Ashburn. Depending on how they go, they could mostly be done with free agency or still pushing to fill some needs.

They have been making an effort to hire one of the top defensive linemen on the market since before free agency actually started. They had former Jet Muhammad Wilkerson in for a visit last Tuesday, something they could do because Wilkerson had been released. The team put on a good sales push that lasted most of the day, but Wilkerson left without a deal. Shortly after he left he decided to sign with the Packers.

They made runs at Dontari Poe and Sheldon Richardson, but they signed with the Panthers and Vikings, respectively. The prospects were looking slim until the Colts decided to cut Jonathan Hankins on Saturday. He weighs 320 pounds and turned 25 on January 1. Hankins probably isn’t going to make any All-Pro teams or post double-digit sacks, but he will help you stop the run for the next half-decade, at least. In case you haven’t noticed, that’s the Redskins’ biggest defensive problem for the last several seasons.

Hankins is visiting today and he is someone the Redskins would very much like to sign. The other two visitors may be fallback plans.

Cornerback Orlando Scandrick is a veteran who can play in the slot. That is what the Redskins are looking for but Scandrick does not appear to be their first choice. Last week they had former Giants cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie in for an extended visit that included a physical. However, they could not come together on money. Scandrick, who has missed time with injuries in each of the last two years, could be an alternative to Rodgers-Cromartie or it could be that he is being used to put some pressure on the Redskins’ preferred choice.

Edge rusher Pernell McPhee is also clearly a second choice. The Redskins have an offer on the table for Junior Galette to return. He tweeted yesterday that the Redskins were the best fit for him but that the money “has to be fair.”

McPhee has played well but injuries have limited his impact the last two years. He started the 2016 season on injured reserve with a knee injury and he missed a total of seven games. Last year he missed three games with shoulder and knee injuries.

The Redskins likely are interested in McPhee for the right price. That price is considerably less than the $7 million he was going to make from the Bears this year before the let him go on February 26. There does not seem to be a hot market for his services; he has been a free agent for three and a half weeks and this is his first reported visit.

The Redskins would rather bring back Galette, who was much more effective as a pass rusher last year than his three sacks would indicate. But the price has to be right for both sides and apparently there is some work to be done towards working that out.

We are down to the home stretch. Only 10 games remain in the Capitals' regular season. Those 10 games will ultimately decide if the Caps finish in first place in the Metropolitan Division and who they will play in the first round of the playoffs.

Washington currently sits in first place in the division, two points ahead of the Pittsburgh Penguins and four points ahead of the Philadelphia Flyers. Of those 10 remaining games, only three come against teams currently in playoff position. The most critical of these comes on April 1 when the Caps travel to Pittsburgh in a game that could ultimately decide the division.